1Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen
Jesus our Lord? Are you not my work in the Lord? 2If to
others I am not an apostle, at least I am to you; for you are the
seal of my apostleship in the Lord.

3My defense to those who examine me is this: 4Do
we not have a right to eat and drink? 5Do we not have a
right to take along a believing wife, even as the rest of the
apostles and the brothers of the Lord and Cephas? 6Or do
only Barnabas and I not have a right to refrain from working? 7Who
at any time serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a
vineyard and does not eat the fruit of it? Or who tends a flock and
does not use the milk of the flock?

8I am not speaking these things according to human
judgment, am I? Or does not the Law also say these things? 9For
it is written in the Law of Moses, "YOU SHALL NOT
MUZZLE THE OX WHILE HE IS THRESHING." God is not concerned
about oxen, is He? 10Or is He speaking altogether for our
sake? Yes, for our sake it was written, because the plowman ought to
plow in hope, and the thresher to thresh in hope of sharing
the crops.11If we sowed spiritual things in you,
is it too much if we reap material things from you? 12If
others share the right over you, do we not more? Nevertheless, we
did not use this right, but we endure all things so that we will
cause no hindrance to the gospel of Christ. 13Do you not
know that those who perform sacred services eat the food of
the temple, and those who attend regularly to the altar have
their share from the altar? 14So also the Lord directed
those who proclaim the gospel to get their living from the gospel.

15But I have used none of these things. And I am not
writing these things so that it will be done so in my case; for it
would be better for me to die than have any man make my boast an
empty one. 16For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing
to boast of, for I am under compulsion; for woe is me if I do not
preach the gospel. 17For if I do this voluntarily, I have
a reward; but if against my will, I have a stewardship entrusted to
me. 18What then is my reward? That, when I preach the
gospel, I may offer the gospel without charge, so as not to make
full use of my right in the gospel.

19For though I am free from all men, I have
made myself a slave to all, so that I may win more. 20To
the Jews I became as a Jew, so that I might win Jews; to those who
are under the Law, as under the Law though not being myself under
the Law, so that I might win those who are under the Law; 21to
those who are without law, as without law, though not being without
the law of God but under the law of Christ, so that I might win
those who are without law. 22To the weak I became weak,
that I might win the weak; I have become all things to all men, so
that I may by all means save some. 23I do all things for
the sake of the gospel, so that I may become a fellow partaker of
it.

24Do you not know that those who run in a race all
run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that
you may win. 25Everyone who competes in the games
exercises self-control in all things. They then do it to
receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. 26Therefore
I run in such a way, as not without aim; I box in such a way, as not
beating the air; 27but I discipline my body and make it
my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will
not be disqualified.

The Holy Bible, New American
Standard Version (c)1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1973, 1975, 1977,
1995 by the Lockman
Foundation, La Habra, CA. All rights reserved. Words
identified as being spoken by Jesus are in red.www.BibleABC.net